An opportunistic defense unveiled by the Skyline Spartans in the second half made all the difference against the Eastlake Wolves.

It was the final regular season game of the 2015 football season for two schools separated by a mere 1.5 miles. Skyline scored 21 points off of three Eastlake turnovers in the second half, turning a two-point lead at halftime (16-14) into a convincing 37-21 win  on Oct. 30 at Eastlake High School in Sammamish.

Skyline improved to 8-1 with the win while Eastlake dropped to 5-4 overall. The loss eliminated Eastlake from playoff contention. Skyline defensive stalwart PJ Cox stripped an Eastlake ballcarrier of the ball before rumbling for an 86-yard fumble return for a touchdown, extending Skyline’s lead to 37-14 with 6:39 left in regulation. Skyline’s “never say die” mantra was evident, not only against Eastlake but throughout the season thus far.

“It really comes down to not quitting on any plays and doing your job on every play,” Cox said. “I can’t give enough credit to our d-line. They stepped up in the second half. We brought it in the second half and that is what it came down to.”

Skyline head coach Mat Taylor was awestruck by Cox’s signature play.

“I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that where someone rips the ball away from somebody out of a pile and just goes,” Taylor said with a smile. “You see it on TV sometimes, but I had never saw it on a team I have coached before. That was fun.”

In the second half, Skyline’s Matt Cindric and Colin Huber recovered two Eastlake fumbles. On each ensuing offensive possession, the Spartans found paydirt on two Blake Gregory touchdown strikes to Huber extending the lead to 30-14. Gregory finished the game with four touchdown passes and no interceptions. The senior signal caller connected with Jake Pendergast and Danny Sinatro on touchdown tosses in the first half of play.

While Gregory said the Spartans are pleased with capturing the Class 4A KingCo regular season title (clinched with win against Inglemoor on Oct. 23), they are looking forward to the challenges awaiting them in the postseason. The Spartans will host the Beamer Titans in a winner-to-state, loser-out playoff game at Skyline High School in Sammamish Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.

“This season has been great so far. Every week we just talk about going 1-0. That is the goal for next week too,” Gregory said. “It feels great right now being KingCo champs but there is so much more to build on and so much more we want to accomplish.”

Eastlake head coach Don Bartel remained upbeat despite the loss to the Spartans which dashed his team’s playoff aspirations.

“The reality is we wanted to see our kids play together, wanted to see them play hard and wanted to see them respond to the challenge. That was the big thing this week and they did it. I loved everything about that. We showed an evolution and we showed progress. We superseded any sort of expectations that we had at the beginning of the year,” Bartel said. “We got a great group of guys. That is a brotherhood right there. We’re 5-3 (in league) and looking at it from the outside right now (missed playoffs), but I will tell you being on the inside of it with this team feels better than seasons where we had better records and different results.”

Eastlake quarterback Mark Whitley accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns against Skyline. Whitley had two scores on the ground (27-yard run, 24-yard touchdown run) and had a 30-yard touchdown to Parker Lester in the second quarter. Bartel got emotional when asked about how much he will miss Whitley running the show under center for the Wolves.

“There are kids that come along once in a while that make your jaw drop because they just earn everything. I walked up to Mark Whitley when he was a sophomore and I first got here (Bartel took the Eastlake job in 2013) and said to him, ‘We might need you to play some quarterback. It won’t last long but we might need you to fill in.’ Now here we are three years later and there was a point in the season where we thought Mark might be the best quarterback (in the KingCo League) because nobody can run and throw like he can, nobody.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@issaquahreporter.com